The team, led by Yuhong Rong of the Yunnan Institute of Tropical Crops and Chao Luo of Guizhou University, chose a plant that matters both ecologically and economically. Water lilies anchor shallow freshwater ecosystems, providing shade, oxygenation, and habitat, while Nymphaea cultivars are also major horticultural commodities. Because their roots sit directly in sediments where microplastics and metals accumulate, they serve as sensitive sentinels for co-contamination. Copper was a logical pollutant to test: it is an essential micronutrient that becomes toxic at elevated concentrations, and it enters water bodies through agricultural runoff, industrial discharge, and antifouling treatments. Polypropylene, meanwhile, is one of the most abundant plastics in aquatic environments, fragmenting from packaging, fishing gear, and consumer goods into particles small enough to interact with plant roots.

The headline physiological result was pigment collapse. After four weeks of combined copper and polypropylene exposure, total chlorophyll in the water lily leaves had fallen to roughly 63.9 percent of the level measured in untreated control plants. Chlorophyll is the molecular engine of photosynthesis, and its degradation is one of the clearest visible signs of plant stress, often manifesting as the yellowing known as chlorosis. Copper alone damages chloroplasts through oxidative stress, but the presence of microplastics appears to have amplified that damage, pushing the photosynthetic apparatus further toward breakdown than either stressor achieved on its own.

Perhaps the most consequential finding concerned where the copper ended up. Under both copper-containing treatments, the metal accumulated predominantly in the roots, which is the pattern typically expected for a plant sequestering a toxic ion away from its photosynthetic machinery. But the microplastics changed the arithmetic. Compared with copper exposure alone, the combined treatment substantially reduced the amount of copper retained in the roots while slightly increasing the concentration measured in the leaves. The leaf-to-root copper ratio was higher under combined exposure than under copper alone, meaning that proportionally more of the metal reached the foliage when microplastics were present.

That shift matters because it upends a common assumption in ecotoxicology: that roots act as a reliable barrier, holding metals in place and shielding aboveground tissues. If microplastics interfere with that barrier, whether by physically altering root structure, changing the chemistry of the rhizosphere, or competing for binding sites on root surfaces, then the effective dose delivered to leaves could rise even when total uptake falls. For aquatic plants, leaf-level copper is where the damage translates directly into photosynthetic loss, which is consistent with the severe chlorophyll decline observed in the combined treatment. The study’s authors argue that this organ-specific redistribution is precisely the kind of effect that single-stressor assessments miss.

Lignin, the structural polymer that stiffens plant cell walls and forms part of the chemical defense arsenal, told a story of two organs pulling in opposite directions. In roots, lignin content was highest under the combined copper and microplastic treatment, suggesting a reinforced barrier response at the point of contact with contaminated water. In leaves, the picture differed: lignin was highest under the copper-containing treatments, which did not differ significantly from each other, and both were significantly higher than under microplastics alone or in the controls. This root-versus-leaf divergence indicates that the phenylpropanoid pathway, the biochemical assembly line that produces lignin and an array of protective flavonoids, was being tuned separately in each organ depending on which stresses it faced.

To understand what was happening beneath these visible symptoms, the researchers turned to transcriptomics and metabolomics, sequencing gene activity and profiling metabolites across the treatments. The combined exposure produced a response pattern that was clearly distinct from either stressor alone, touching on an unusually broad set of biological modules. Chlorophyll and porphyrin metabolism, the pathway that builds and recycles the pigments at the heart of photosynthesis, was disrupted. Light-harvesting complexes, the protein-pigment assemblies that funnel solar energy into the reaction centers, showed altered regulation. The phenylpropanoid and flavonoid pathways, which supply lignin, antioxidants, and signaling molecules, were reconfigured. Hormone signaling, membrane transport, energy metabolism, and redox-related regulation all registered the combined treatment as a fundamentally different challenge.

This multi-omics signature is what gives the study its broader significance. Plant responses to stress are coordinated through networks rather than single switches, and the combined treatment appears to have shifted the entire coordination pattern rather than just dialing individual pathways up or down. The interplay between copper toxicity and microplastic presence likely involves several mechanisms operating at once: microplastic particles can adsorb metal ions onto their surfaces, changing their bioavailability; they can alter the physical and chemical environment of the root surface; and they can induce their own mechanical and oxidative stress that consumes the plant’s defensive capacity. The result is a plant that partitions copper differently, builds lignin differently, and manages its photosynthetic pigments differently than it would under metal stress alone.

The practical implications extend beyond one ornamental cultivar. Microplastics and heavy metals are now recognized as near-ubiquitous companions in freshwater sediments worldwide, and risk assessments that treat them separately may systematically misjudge the threat to aquatic vegetation. If microplastics generally shift metal burdens from roots toward leaves, as this experiment suggests, then the toxicological endpoint that matters most, damage to the photosynthetic machinery, could be underestimated by measurements focused on total uptake or root sequestration. The authors emphasize that organ-specific metal exposure and multi-omics responses need to be built into future assessments of microplastic-metal co-contamination in aquatic plants.

There is also a conservation angle. The research was funded in part by Yunnan Provincial projects aimed at cataloging and protecting water lily germplasm resources, and the findings arrive as ornamental and wild Nymphaea populations alike face mounting pressure from polluted water. A plant that loses nearly 40 percent of its chlorophyll under combined contamination is a plant with reduced growth, reduced reproduction, and reduced resilience to whatever comes next. As microplastic loads in freshwater systems continue to climb, studies like this one suggest that the real ecological cost of plastic pollution may lie less in the particles themselves than in the way they quietly rewrite the rules of every other pollutant a plant must face.

Subject of Research: Combined copper and polypropylene microplastic exposure effects on metal partitioning, chlorophyll homeostasis, and phenylpropanoid metabolism in the aquatic plant Nymphaea 'Black Beauty'

Article Title: Combined exposure to copper and polypropylene microplastics alters metal partitioning, chlorophyll homeostasis and phenylpropanoid metabolism in Nymphaea ‘Black Beauty’

Article References: Rong, Y., Mu, H., Li, Z., Zhang, Z., Xie, J., Zhang, Y., Xu, Y., Xiong, S., Lai, Z., Xiong, H., Li, K., Li, S., & Luo, C. (2026). Combined exposure to copper and polypropylene microplastics alters metal partitioning, chlorophyll homeostasis and phenylpropanoid metabolism in Nymphaea ‘Black Beauty’. BMC Plant Biology. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-026-09848-1

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12870-026-09848-1

Keywords: microplastics, polypropylene, copper, Nymphaea, water lily, chlorophyll, lignin, phenylpropanoid metabolism, heavy metal contamination, aquatic plants, transcriptomics, metabolomics

The central puzzle the study addresses is deceptively simple. Aquatic plants are equipped with internal air channels, known as aerenchyma, that shuttle oxygen down to their waterlogged roots while allowing gases produced in the sediment to escape upward and out into the atmosphere. This plumbing system makes plants the primary conduit through which methane, generated by microbes decomposing organic matter in oxygen-starved sediments, reaches the air. But the same root zone also hosts methanotrophic bacteria, methane-consuming microbes that thrive where oxygen leaking from roots meets methane rising from below. The question has always been how much methane these bacteria intercept before it ever enters the plant’s internal gas highway.

Previous measurements of this process, called rhizospheric oxidation, had been carried out on only a handful of species in natural settings, leaving scientists with little idea of how the phenomenon varies across the enormous diversity of aquatic plants. Some species move gases with remarkable efficiency, using pressure-driven convective bulk flow that can ventilate their tissues rapidly, while others rely on slower molecular diffusion. Grasset reasoned that this variation in transport efficiency might hold the key to understanding why some vegetated habitats emit far more methane than others, and she designed an experiment to test the idea across an unusually broad range of species.

The study examined eleven different aquatic plant species spanning a spectrum of gas transport capabilities. To quantify both methane oxidation and methane transport simultaneously and in situ, Grasset employed a dual stable isotope approach, a technique that tracks the fate of methane molecules by measuring how their isotopic signatures shift as they move through the plant-soil system. Because methanotrophic bacteria preferentially consume lighter isotopes of methane, the residual methane that survives oxidation and reaches the atmosphere carries a distinctive heavy isotopic fingerprint. By reading these fingerprints in the field, the researcher could calculate what fraction of the methane produced in the sediment was being oxidized in the rhizosphere of each species before release.

The results were striking. For plants that transport gases efficiently, up to eighty-one percent of the methane produced in the surrounding sediment was oxidized before it could escape through the plant tissues. In other words, in the most effective gas movers, more than four out of every five methane molecules generated by methanogenic archaea in the anoxic sediment never made it to the atmosphere at all. They were instead converted to carbon dioxide by methane-oxidizing bacteria in the thin oxygenated halo surrounding the roots, a transformation that drastically reduces the climate impact of the carbon leaving the sediment.

Perhaps even more consequential was the pattern that emerged across species. The fraction of methane oxidized was negatively correlated with the amount of methane each plant released. Efficient gas transporters, despite their powerful internal ventilation systems that might be expected to flush methane out rapidly, ended up emitting less methane than their slower-breathing counterparts. This counterintuitive relationship suggests that the very plants best equipped to move gases are also the ones that deliver the most oxygen to their rhizospheres, fueling the methanotrophic bacteria that consume the methane before it can be vented. The efficient plumbing, in effect, feeds the biological filter that neutralizes the gas.

Grasset is careful to note that the correlation, while compelling, does not yet establish causality. It remains possible that other factors, such as sediment chemistry, root architecture, or differences in methane production rates among the studied habitats, contribute to the observed pattern. Further experimental studies will be needed to confirm that high gas transport efficiency directly drives higher rhizospheric oxidation. Even so, the magnitude of the oxidation fractions measured, and their consistent relationship with plant-mediated methane release across eleven species, represents a major advance over the sparse species-level data that existed before.

The implications for global climate science are considerable. Methane emissions from vegetated freshwater habitats are among the most uncertain terms in global greenhouse gas budgets, in large part because emission models struggle to account for the enormous variability observed between different plant communities and species. Current approaches often treat aquatic vegetation as a single functional group, or rely on crude proxies for plant-mediated transport. If rhizospheric oxidation varies systematically with species traits such as gas transport efficiency, as this study suggests, then incorporating that trait into emission models could dramatically reduce the uncertainty in methane budgets for wetlands, lake margins, and other vegetated inland waters.

The study also points toward a practical framework for classifying aquatic plants by their climate behavior. Grasset argues that a mechanistic understanding of how plants release methane is necessary to define aquatic plant functional types with contrasting methane emissions, analogous to the plant functional types long used in terrestrial vegetation models. Species with high gas transport efficiency and high rhizospheric oxidation would fall into one category, emitting relatively little methane per unit of production, while species with sluggish internal ventilation and weak oxidation would form another. Mapping which types dominate which ecosystems could allow Earth system models to generate far more accurate predictions of how freshwater methane emissions will respond to climate change, permafrost thaw, and shifting vegetation distributions.

As researchers work to refine these models, the study stands as a vivid reminder that some of the most important climate regulation on the planet happens at scales invisible to the naked eye, in the oxygenated microzone hugging the roots of a water lily or a reed. The dual isotope technique deployed here offers a template for future in situ measurements across other ecosystems and climates, from boreal fens to tropical floodplains. If the relationship between transport efficiency and oxidation holds up under further scrutiny, the humble root zone of aquatic plants may prove to be one of nature’s most underappreciated methane filters, quietly scrubbing the majority of a potent greenhouse gas from the flux that would otherwise escape into a warming atmosphere.

Subject of Research: Methane rhizospheric oxidation by aquatic plants and its role in regulating freshwater methane emissions

Article Title: Methane rhizospheric oxidation and its ecosystem significance across different aquatic plant species

Article References: Grasset, C. (2026). Methane rhizospheric oxidation and its ecosystem significance across different aquatic plant species. Biogeochemistry. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-026-01374-4

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s10533-026-01374-4

Keywords: methane, aquatic plants, rhizosphere, methanotrophy, aerenchyma, greenhouse gas, stable isotopes, wetlands, biogeochemistry, plant-mediated transport, freshwater emissions, climate

A research team led by Shruti Khanna of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the University of California, Davis, together with Jereme Gaeta, Krista Hoffmann, and remote sensing pioneer Susan Ustin, analyzed the Delta’s aquatic invasive plant control program across two five-year windows, 2004 to 2008 and 2014 to 2018. Their study, published in the journal Environmental Management, combined more than six hundred treated and reference sites with multi-year airborne hyperspectral imagery capable of mapping floating aquatic vegetation at the genus level. By fusing these vegetation maps with detailed herbicide application logs and boat path records, the team could ask questions that no small-scale field trial could answer: does the type of herbicide matter, does the dose matter, does the number of visits matter, and does any of it last?

The stakes are enormous. California spends more than 13 million US dollars each year treating invasive aquatic plants in the Delta, a 2,220-square-kilometer estuary formed by the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. The main villains are water hyacinth (Pontederia crassipes), a Brazilian native that has plagued the Delta since 1904, and water primrose (Ludwigia hexapetala), present since 1949 and increasingly dominant since 2014. Two newer arrivals, spongeplant detected in 2008 and alligator weed in 2017, add to the threat. These plants form dense floating mats that darken water, deplete oxygen, block fish movement, and displace native communities, while their drifting fragments seed new infestations throughout the tidal system.

The control program itself has a long institutional history. Funded after 1982 legislation, it began as the Water Hyacinth Control Program and was renamed the Aquatic Invasive Plant Control Program in 2019, administered by California State Parks’ Division of Boating and Waterways. For most of its history it has relied on two systemic herbicides with remarkably long pedigrees: 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, patented in 1945, which disrupts plant growth hormones and kills broadleaf dicots while sparing monocots, and glyphosate, patented by Monsanto in 1974, which blocks the shikimate pathway enzyme EPSPS essential to plant survival. The program straddled a major transition, relying mainly on 2,4-D in the early period and shifting to glyphosate in the later years, a natural experiment the researchers exploited to evaluate each chemical independently.

The analytical approach was rigorous. The team fitted mixed-effects logistic regression models, treating the probability of floating vegetation presence at each site as a function of herbicide application rate, spray frequency within a season, and consecutive years of treatment, with random intercepts for site and year to account for repeated observations. Separate models were built for each of the Delta’s three hydrologically distinct habitat types: fast-flowing tidal channels, slow shallow waters between remnant wetland patches, and flooded islands, lake-like expanses created by levee failures where water lingers and tidal action is weak.

The results were strikingly habitat-dependent. Both herbicides performed best in slow, shallow, open-water habitats and flooded islands, and worst in fast-flowing channels. Glyphosate was essentially ineffective in channels at any application rate, while 2,4-D showed significant impact there only at the highest rates used in the field. The likely explanation lies in the Delta’s relentless tidal dynamics. Previous work using GPS trackers showed that water hyacinth mats drift constantly in all directions with the tides, so treated plants in channels are quickly replaced by fresh propagules floating in from untreated areas. Flooded islands, isolated from these tidal conveyor belts, allow treatment effects to persist and become detectable months and even years later.

Perhaps the most actionable finding concerns dose and frequency. Across habitats and time periods, applying a higher concentration of herbicide in fewer visits consistently outperformed delivering the same total amount in smaller, more frequent doses. Low-dose applications were not merely ineffective; in some cases they were associated with a higher probability of floating vegetation than untreated reference sites. The authors point to two possible mechanisms. The first is hormesis, a well-documented phenomenon in which sublethal chemical stress actually stimulates plant growth and defense mechanisms, potentially triggering a post-treatment rebound. The second is herbicide resistance: sites treated with glyphosate for more than six consecutive years required noticeably higher application rates to achieve significant reductions than sites treated for only one or two years, a pattern consistent with resistance evolving under repeated sublethal selection pressure.

The legacy effects, meaning how long benefits persisted after spraying stopped, differed sharply between the two chemicals. Sites treated with 2,4-D showed no detectable reduction in floating vegetation one, two, or three years after treatment ended, in any habitat. Glyphosate, by contrast, left a measurable legacy in flooded islands, where the probability of floating vegetation remained significantly below reference levels even three years after the last application. In slow shallows, longer histories of glyphosate treatment, five to six consecutive years, produced stronger lasting suppression than shorter histories. In channels, neither herbicide left any lasting benefit, and longer treatment histories there appeared if anything counterproductive.

The study also revealed an unsettling background trend: floating vegetation cover and occurrence probability were higher across all habitats in 2014–2018 than in 2004–2008, suggesting the invasion problem has intensified even as treatment continued. Slow shallows consistently showed the highest occurrence, likely because their nutrient-rich, slow-moving waters combine continuous propagule input with ideal conditions for fragments and seedlings to take root.

For managers, the recommendations are concrete. Avoid sublethal doses that risk stimulating growth or breeding resistance; concentrate herbicide into fewer, higher-dose applications; match herbicide choice to habitat, favoring glyphosate’s longer-lasting action in stable flooded islands while recognizing that neither chemical offers much hope in fast channels; and rotate active ingredients, a strategy the Division of Boating and Waterways has begun testing with newer herbicides such as imazamox and penoxsulam in demonstration zones. Above all, the authors argue, chemical control must be embedded in a holistic program of monitoring, integrated methods, and native plant restoration. What this study demonstrates most powerfully is the value of scale: only by combining ten years of treatment records with a decade-spanning remote sensing archive could the true contours of herbicide efficacy in a tidal ecosystem come into focus, and only at that scale can the difference between money spent and money wasted finally be seen.

Subject of Research: Herbicide efficacy against invasive floating aquatic vegetation in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta

Article Title: Multi-Year Regional-Scale Efficacy Assessment of Two Herbicides for Treatment of Invasive Floating Aquatic Vegetation in a California Estuary

Article References: Khanna, S., Gaeta, J. W., Hoffmann, K., & Ustin, S. L. (2026). Multi-Year Regional-Scale Efficacy Assessment of Two Herbicides for Treatment of Invasive Floating Aquatic Vegetation in a California Estuary. Environmental Management, 76(10), Article 326. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-026-02625-8

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s00267-026-02625-8

Keywords: glyphosate, 2,4-D, invasive species, water hyacinth, water primrose, Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, remote sensing, estuary management, herbicide resistance, aquatic plants, tidal wetlands, environmental management

Macrophytes encompass a diverse array of submerged, emergent, and floating primary producers visible to the naked eye, including vascular plants, macroalgae, and bryophytes. Long regarded as ecological pillars of aquatic ecosystems, these plants perform an extraordinary range of functions: they stabilize sediments, oxygenate the water column, provide habitat and foraging grounds for fish, invertebrates, and amphibians, and drive nutrient cycling. Their ecophysiological adaptations—such as aerenchyma formation and radial oxygen loss that allow them to survive in waterlogged conditions—translate into ecosystem-level consequences that ripple through entire food webs, making them uniquely suited to serve as the biological foundation of nature-based restoration strategies.

The concept of nature-based solutions, formally introduced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in the late 2000s and consolidated at the 2016 World Conservation Congress, defines actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges while simultaneously delivering human well-being and biodiversity benefits. Macrophytes have been quietly working within this framework for decades. Species such as the common reed Phragmites australis, cattails of the genus Typha, and water hyacinth Eichhornia crassipes have long been deployed in constructed and floating treatment wetlands to strip nutrients, metals, and organic pollutants from water. Recent research shows that the performance of these systems hinges on hydraulic retention time and plant functional traits: submerged species like Vallisneria spiralis and Ceratophyllum demersum enhance nitrification and phosphorus immobilization under moderate flows, while emergent species tolerate heavy metal loads and support microbial degradation of contaminants.

To assess the current state of knowledge, Bolpagni conducted a systematic search of literature published from 2020 onward across Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, screening more than 2,100 records and ultimately identifying 16 exemplary case studies in which macrophytes act as genuine restoration players rather than passive indicators of ecosystem condition. The studies spanned themes from nutrient legacy mitigation and biotic interactions to climate impacts and practical planting techniques. Across all cases, macrophyte-based interventions produced measurable improvements in habitat restoration, water quality, and biodiversity, with outcomes shaped primarily by light availability, nutrient loading, hydrology, and the remediation capacity of the plants themselves.

The mechanisms behind these successes are becoming increasingly well understood. By anchoring sediments, macrophytes reduce resuspension and turbidity, allowing more light to penetrate the water column and creating conditions favorable to further plant growth—a classic positive feedback loop. In shallow lakes studied in New Zealand, researchers emphasized that understanding macrophyte light and depth tolerances is essential for predicting restoration success. Danish lake studies have identified trophic thresholds beyond which macrophytes decline, with total phosphorus concentrations above roughly 0.13 to 0.20 milligrams per liter or total nitrogen above 1.2 to 2.0 milligrams per liter marking danger zones. Beyond light, macrophyte restoration increases dissolved oxygen, shifts microbial community composition, and enhances the microbial carbon pump, which can bolster aquatic carbon sequestration—a finding with profound implications for climate change adaptation.

The evidence for water quality gains is striking. One study of an urban shallow lake reported reductions exceeding 50 percent in nitrogen, phosphorus, and chlorophyll a following macrophyte restoration, alongside increases in recalcitrant dissolved organic matter. In a three-year study of a subtropical lake in China, submerged macrophyte restoration led to marked decreases in cyanobacteria and other algal taxa, with these changes negatively correlated with nutrient concentrations. Rooted plants also improve sediment chemistry: research on Vallisneria spiralis demonstrated that the species improves pore water conditions and increases potential nitrification in organically polluted sediments, effectively transforming contaminated substrates into more functional biological layers.

Success, however, is far from guaranteed, and the article is candid about the conditions that lead to failure. Restoration efforts falter when depth, turbidity, or shading limit light; when storms, waves, or dredging repeatedly disturb plantings; when invasive species or high grazing pressure suppress regrowth; or when propagule banks and genetic diversity are depleted. Perhaps most insidiously, short-term interventions without maintenance can backfire—when accumulated plant biomass is never harvested, nutrients released during decomposition can re-fertilize the very system the restoration was meant to save, triggering self-fertilization processes that undermine the entire effort. Modeling work based on the PCLake framework suggests that maintaining an optimal biomass window of roughly 5.5 kilograms of fresh weight per square meter, with substantial harvesting of about 80 percent during the decline period, can prevent this nutrient leakage.

Trade-offs are equally real. Biomass harvesting removes nutrients but demands significant labor and investment; floating and constructed wetlands must occupy considerable areas to be effective; and in some contexts, evapotranspiration from dense plant stands can reduce water volumes and accelerate the drying of colonized water bodies. Climatic extremes such as droughts and floods can disrupt restored systems in unpredictable ways. Quantitative operational thresholds are emerging to guide practitioners: in Chesapeake Bay, total suspended solids above 15 milligrams per liters signaled unfavorable conditions for submerged vegetation, while sediment organic matter contents above roughly 20 percent caused drastic growth reductions in even highly reactive species like Hydrilla verticillata and Myriophyllum spicatum.

To maximize effectiveness, the article proposes an operational framework for implementing macrophyte-based solutions, beginning with comprehensive pre-intervention assessments of nutrient loads, sediment phosphorus, light profiles, and hydrodynamics. It calls for climate-resilient design incorporating buffer zones and species redundancy, multifunctional approaches that combine submerged plantings with emergent buffers and floating wetlands, and careful attention to propagule banks and genetic diversity, prioritizing native species adapted to local stressors. Notably, mixing aquatic plant functional types appears to pay dividends: communities combining up to eight species across three functional groups form more stable stands, support clear-water states, reduce methane emissions through enhanced rhizosphere processes, and can outperform monocultures in nitrogen removal due to metabolic complementarity.

Ultimately, the synthesis signals a paradigm shift in freshwater restoration—away from short-term engineering fixes and toward system-level agendas grounded in adaptive management, stakeholder engagement, and long-term governance and financing. Success depends less on planting effort alone than on establishing the enabling conditions for recovery: reduced external nutrient loads, adequate light and hydrodynamic regimes, and sufficient propagule availability. As invasive taxa reshape freshwater communities in ways that may constitute nothing less than an ecological revolution, the stakes could hardly be higher. Macrophytes, the article concludes, should be recognized not only as vital targets of restoration but as essential tools for climate adaptation in the Anthropocene—living infrastructure already growing in the waters we are struggling to save.

Subject of Research: Macrophyte-based nature-based solutions for restoring freshwater ecosystems

Article Title: Macrophytes-based solutions as tools to halt the collapse of freshwater biodiversity, functions and benefits

Article References: Bolpagni, R. (2026). Macrophytes-based solutions as tools to halt the collapse of freshwater biodiversity, functions and benefits. Discover Ecology, 2(1), Article 8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44396-026-00027-y

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s44396-026-00027-y

Keywords: macrophytes, freshwater restoration, nature-based solutions, aquatic plants, eutrophication, water quality, biodiversity, shallow lakes, phytoremediation, ecosystem services, adaptive management, climate change